Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys End Two-Game Losing Streak
June 21, 1999 | Cowboy Basketball
December 12, 1998
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - All Wimp Sanderson could do was apologize after the worst loss of his college coaching career.
"I'm sorry it turned out like that," the Arkansas-Little Rock coach said after losing 88-41 to No. 19 Oklahoma State on Saturday night. "It's a hard way to go, but I've had some hard times before."
Because of an ongoing internal investigation into alleged wrongdoing by a booster, Sanderson sat four of his starters. They have provided 75 percent of the Trojans' scoring, led by Chris Green's 22 points per game.
Three of those four will be back in the lineup when the Trojans (4-2) play next.
"I probably spent 30 hours as a staff trying to figure out what's best," said Sanderson, in his 17th season as a head coach. "I don't know what's best. ... We can hardly afford to hold two of our starters out, let alone four."
Joe Adkins scored 24 points as Oklahoma State (5-2) ended a two-game losing streak. Adkins scored all his points three at a time - on six 3-pointers and two three-point plays - as the Cowboys coasted from the start.
"I was disappointed that Wimp couldn't have his whole team here because I think they're a very good basketball team," Cowboys coach Eddie Sutton said. "With their tournament coming up and the conference season coming up, sometimes you have to do that and bite the bullet.
"I think he made the right decision. I'm sure in the back of his mind he wasn't sure he was going to beat us anyway."
Oklahoma State scored 18 straight points in the first half to make the final 25 minutes incidental. The Trojans were 0-for-13 with four turnovers during Oklahoma State's run, which gave the Cowboys a 30-8 lead.
Arkansas-Little Rock was 4-of-23 from the field in the first half and finished 14-of-52 (27 percent).
Desmond Mason had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Cowboys, who outrebounded UALR 46-26. Adrian Peterson had 14 points and eight rebounds, and Doug Gottlieb had 10 assists in 19 minutes.
Glendon Alexander, a transfer from Arkansas, had 11 points, all in the second half, and four assists in his debut.
Alan Barksdale scored 17 points to lead the Trojans, although he was only 6-of-18 from the field.
Sanderson's previous worst loss was a 34-pointer to Louisiana Tech last year.
Oklahoma State was playing for the first time in a week. The Cowboys lost on the road to UCLA last weekend, and before that were shocked at home by Florida Atlantic.
Despite the lopsided margin, Sutton felt his team got something out of the game.
"In a game like that, you are always afraid your team will get sloppy, get selfish, quit playing," he said. "I didn't think we did that. I thought we played hard for 40 minutes."
By OWEN CANFIELD
AP Sports Writer
